Princes Street and North Bridge city's worst accident blackspots

Published on Friday 16 May 2008 10:33

EDINBURGH'S road accident blackspots have been revealed for the first time.

The figures, which detail how many accidents have occurred across the city in the past three years, show Princes Street, North Bridge and the area around Leith Street to be those most likely to witness vehicle collisions and accidents involving pedestrians.

The data shows there have been 67 accidents in the three years up to April in a section of the city covering Princes Street and North Bridge. The area around Leith Street and a section of the Old Town, focused on South Bridge come next, with 48 and 37 accidents respectively.

The most dangerous junction, meanwhile, is revealed to be that between Princes Street and North Bridge, where an average of five accidents take place every year.

Andy Fraser, who has been a concierge at the Balmoral Hotel for the past five years, said: "I have seen quite a few accidents, although they all tend to be quite minor shunts on the corner of North Bridge.

"You get a lot of tourists here and because they don't know the area that well they have been involved in a few accidents. I've seen some drivers on Princes Street who are clearly from abroad and have got a bit lost.

"Sadly I've also seen a couple of people hit by buses here, because it is so busy, but fortunately because the traffic is so slow they have not been too serious."

The figures are compiled by the council as a way of investigating how to improve safety on the city's streets.

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport convener, said: "Ensuring our roads are as safe as possible is a task we take very seriously. By taking a proactive approach and identifying areas where there are higher than anticipated levels of accidents, we are able to investigate whether we can implement measures to prevent future incidents occurring.

"However, all road users also have a responsibility to respect the rules of the road and use common sense for their own safety and that of others."

The accident data, which can include everything from pedestrians tripping on kerbs to multiple vehicle crashes, is collected each month by the police and handed to the council for recording.

Each year, the local authority's road-safety team carries out an accident analysis using a computer-based system. It calculates an expected accident rate for each stretch of road, each junction and for each 500-metre grid square in the city.

It then calculates the actual accident rate for each junction and compares this with the prediction to identify problem areas.

Bruce Young, the local co-ordinator of the British Drivers Association, admitted he had been surprised at some of the findings.

"I was quite shocked to see that Princes Street appears to have become less safe since it was restricted to just buses and taxis, as there appear to have been more collisions with pedestrians and that is a major concern," he said.

"North Bridge and Leith Street are both busy areas with a lot of roadworks and pedestrian movements, although I would have expected drivers in the area to be more careful because of that.

"There is no easy way to determine what could be an accident blackspot, although these figures should be studied carefully to see what can be done to reduce these accidents."